Will Anti-GMO Activist Spark Violence?

According to Mike Adams (a.k.a. the “Health Ranger”) biotechnology is mass genocide and its advocates are Nazis. No joke. The conspiracy theory — explained in a ridiculous and dangerous rant of a blog post at “NaturalNews.com” — is depraved enough to dismiss at face value. Not only should this offend anyone who suffered under the real Nazis, this frightening escalation in rhetoric and threats should be condemned by anyone involved in this debate.

The conspiratorial Adams claims advocates of GMOs, or genetically improved foods (GIFs), have conspired to create a regime that commits “heinous crimes…against humanity” and “genocide.” Reputable scientists overwhelmingly agree that GIFs are as safe as conventionally grown crops, which apparently makes Adams suspicious: he points out that “science was [also] the buzzword of the Nazi regime” and that “[a]nyone who resisted the Nazi regime was condemned as ‘anti-science’ in precisely the same way that anyone who know [sic] questions the wisdom of [GIFs] is also called ‘anti-science.’” Never mind that GIF crops have increased yields and decreased the use of pesticides and herbicides.

Comparing the Nazis’ perversion of science with the consensus position of almost all bodies promulgating scientific advice is the height of lunacy. Using this theory you could dismiss almost anything: the big bang theory, gravity, etc. And criticizing the junk science facilitating anti-GIF crusades is not an assault on “questions…and critical thinking”—it is a refusal to accept the manic theories of self-righteous Internet quacks when credible, fact-based evidence says otherwise.

Disturbingly, Adams concludes with an unnerving call to action. Citing the honoring of German army officers who tried and failed to kill Nazi dictator Adolf Hitler, Adams writes, “[I]t is the moral right—and even the obligation—of human beings everywhere to actively plan and carry out the killing of those engaged in the heinous crimes against humanity.” Since publishing his conspiratorial rant, Adams posted an update hailing a scary new development: Apparently somebody inspired by the “Health Ranger” created a website naming “those collaborators who are promoting the death and destruction” wrecked by GIFs. Adams includes a “disclaimer” in his rant saying that he doesn’t endorse vigilante violence—but with the reckless rhetoric he’s spewing about maybe-possibly-potential genocide and the analogies he’s drawing, who knows what his words will spark.